Hormone spray makes people donate more to charity

16:15 17 November 2010

Helen Thomson, biomedical news editor, San Diego

It's every marketeer's dream: a nasal spray that increases the influence of advertising. All it takes is a dose of oxytocin to make consumers more willing to donate money - and more of it - to charity.

So says Paul Zak, from Claremont Graduate University in California, and colleagues who tested the effect of the hormone oxytocin on susceptibility to advertising.

Zak gave 4 millilitres of oxytocin or a placebo saline solution to 40 male volunteers in the form of a nasal spray. The volunteers were then shown 16 commercials seeking to curtail smoking, drinking, speeding, and global warming. After viewing each advert, five questions were used to assess participants' concern for others and concern for one's self.

Immediately after viewing each advert, participants were asked a single
question about its content and given $5 for a correct answer. Next,
participants were asked if they would donate some portion of their
earnings to a charity associated with the advertisement.

Significantly more people who had been given oxytocin donated money
than those given saline. They also donated on average 57 per cent more
money. The results were presented this week at the Society for
Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego.

Oxytocin is well-known for its role in empathy and trust, though is currently only available on prescription. As a result, at the moment it can't be used by advertisers to persuade us to feel more favourable
towards their product, though many make sure their adverts contain images that evoke bursts of natural
oxytocin, such as children and pets, says Zak.

He points out that the research doesn't just have applications for
advertisers. He says the military could be interested in the uses of the
hormone, and it may have implications for the treatment of depression.

Sounds like a rehash of a study by Zak reported on in June of 2005. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4676683 I wonder who got hit up to fund this duplication; who got played. Do you think they inhaled first? ;)

Sounds like a rehash of a study by Zak reported on in June of 2005. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4676683 I wonder who got hit up to fund this duplication; who got played. Do you think they inhaled first? ;)

Dr. Paul Zak's work on oxytocin the cuddle hormone cannot be downplayed, it holds tremendous implications at all levels of human relationship and interaction. I am very excited to see this important hormone getting such widespread attention. Dr. Zak can also be found on a video at http://www.oxytocincentral.com
Great article.

Andrew
on June 13, 2012 8:46 AM

This'll give an entirely new meaning to charity mugging if the collectors proceed to sock people in the stomach and ram a spray up their nose.